‘Empire’ Ratings Return Strong; Up Slightly From Winter Finale

With family feuds galore, a new CEO and Naomi Campbell guest starring,Empire (4.7/15, 12.24 million viewers) certainly struck back last night in its Season 2 spring return. Back for the first time since December 2, the Lee Daniels- and Danny Strong-created blockbuster was easily the top-rated and most-watched show on TV on Wednesday and up 4.4% from its winter finale among adults 18-49. Viewershipwise, last night’s Empire Season 2B return was up 4% from its last original of last year.

Overall, Fox won the night in the demo with a 3.0 rating, while CBS was the most watched net of the night by a nose with 8.693 million viewers to Fox’s 8.686 million. The return of Empire saw 8 PM lead-in Rosewood (1.4/5) rise 40% over last week, which is closer to what the newbie series was getting when its lead-out was on last year. Compared to the Hell’s Kitchen (1.2) that played in the 9 PM slot on March 23, the return of the Lyon family rose 291% for Fox.

Topping the 4.3/13 of the January 31 Grease Live!, the fast-affiliate numbers for Wednesday’s Empire are the best non-sports demo result Fox has had this year. Looking at total audience results, Grease Live! had 12.21 million viewers, while in early numbers, Empire has 12.24 million. In fact, coming back from its first long break ever, last night’s Empire was the best the series has done among the demo since its October 21 episode, which got a 4.8 rating.

In metered market numbers the signs looked good for Empire and Fox too, with last night’s episodedrawing a 8.3/13 rating — or 5% better than its winter finale did in the early results. In the local people meters from 25 markets, the ‘Death Will Have His Day” episode got a 5.2 among the 18-49s, a 4% bop up from the December 2 show.

The second-highest-rated and most-watched show of the night, Survivor (2.1/8, 9.43 million viewers) was even with last week’s final demo number, as was NBC newbie Heartbeat (0.9/3) with its regular slot premiere. At 10 PM, Chicago P.D. (1.5/5) ticked up a tenth from the fast nationals of its March 23 airing.